Winning Forces McCord to Work Up New Shtick

Gary McCord apologized for being about 30 minutes late as he walked into a room at the Newport Beach Country Club Monday, then went right into a bit about a problem with an airplane door that caused his delay.

McCord was as sharp as any stand-up comedian as he chronicled how a tiny screw fell out of a door and shut down an entire plane. He also got in a jab at an airline’s inability to be on time but stopped short of doing any jokes about airline food.

Finally, he got around to talking about golf. Combining golf and comedy has served McCord well since he started as a television commentator in 1986.

He became popular with viewers as he repeatedly flogged his nondescript career on the PGA Tour that eventually included 376 tournaments and no victories.

But in March at the Toshiba Senior Classic, McCord took a sponsor’s exemption and turned it into a playoff victory over good friend John Jacobs as well as Allen Doyle and Al Geiberger.

McCord also won the Senior Tour Championship and finished 14th on the money list with $993,291, which was an average of $58,428 for each of his 17 starts.

McCord is proud of his success but it has left him searching for a new on-air identity.

“[Winning] has changed the way I talk on television,” McCord said, “because I can’t get away with the stuff I was doing and that’s been hard for me. . . . I still need to find a direction to go, but I’ll work on that this year.”

Another thing McCord is working on is fitting everything into his schedule.

His plan last year was to play in six or seven senior events. Add to that his television commitments and personal appearances and he figured to be quite busy.

“The whole year changed at that point,” McCord said about the victory. “I was just going to play a few events, then all of sudden you get very greedy and your eyes get very big.”

McCord, who said he took 128 airline flights last year, said he figures to play in about the same number of senior events this year, including the one March 3-5 at Newport Beach Country Club.

McCord had a lot of memories about his victory, which helped bring added interest to the tour that had been dominated for several years by Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan.

“J.J was up on the tee,” McCord said about the first of five playoff holes, “and the shadows were kind of long. [Jacobs] was over his tee shot and I was making a [hand] puppet of a rabbit on his golf ball. Allen [Doyle] was kind of looking at me like “What are you doing?’ ”

Having a good time.

WEB SITE

The Toshiba Senior Classic has launched an Internet Web site, ToshibaSeniorClassic.com.

Visitors to the site can purchase tickets, fill out volunteer applications and check for news about the tournament.

BIG LEAGUE CHARITY

The Dan Naulty Big League Charity Golf Tournament is Monday at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

Naulty, a graduate of Ocean View High who played for the Yankees last season and signed with the Dodgers last month, hopes to raise funds for local youth baseball programs.

Among those committed to play are current and former major leaguers Rod Carew, Chili Davis, Rex Hudler, Doug DeCinces, J.T. Snow, Robb Nen, Mike Witt, Rich Amaral, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi and Jaret Wright.

Entry fee is $175 for the shotgun scramble format. Information: (562) 493-4441.

Times staff writer Peter Yoon contributed to this story.